Love is Blind
by SpaceGrif
Summary: May Zedong has a secret, a part of her she conceals at all times out of shame. But when she meets a fellow student at an event, one thing leads to another, and revelations lead to unexpected comfort.
May Zedong and Reese Chloris sat comfortably in their two-person booth in the Vytal Festival fairgrounds. The coffee shop was almost empty, save for a few late-night patrons and the bartender. The two had met after team BRNZ's match against JNPR, when each team had been having 'consolation dinners' at the same restaurant. Recognizing each other from video feeds, both Arslan and Brawnz, leaders of their respective teams, decided it would be beneficial to compare combat records: to see what had gone wrong, from a neutral perspective, and to see how they could get better.

Of course, the only ones who had participated in it were Brawnz and Arslan. Nolan and Bolin were too busy seeing who could chug a gallon of rootbeer the fastest, while Nadir and Roy discussed recently released video games, including _Ninjas of Remnant II: The Reckoning_ and _Furious Fighter IV._ May and Reese, meanwhile, were content to sit there and idly chat about random topics: fashion trends, hair styles, and the like.

When the night was getting long, both teams decided to split up: Nadir, Bolin, Nolan, and Roy headed back to BRNZ's room to play video games and talk, while Brawnz and Arslan went to ABRN's room to "Further discuss combat tactics and viability". Of course, if you had asked Brawnz, he would have said that they were just going to hang.

Everybody was surprised, however, when May and Reese told the others that they had elected to remain in the fairgrounds for a few more hours. Nobody raised any objections, but all of them wondered what had transpired between them when the others were too engrossed in their own discussions.

They left on their own, and spent a few hours going around the fair playing the various games. May won several fluffy stuffed animals at one of the fairgrounds games, obliterating three targets with a single Dust-infused cartridge from her sniper. After collecting various stuffed animals, Reese had attempted to teach May to skate, loaning her own skateboard to assist her. After a few slips and bruised bottoms, both agreed that May would never get the hang of it.

They laughed and had fun, and decided to get some coffee before going their separate ways.

May smiled as Reese told another one of her stories, this one about her own first attempt at using wheeled skates. She noticed how Reese's laugh lit up the entire room. How her eyes would wrinkle at the corner, and her voice seemed to come from her very soul: every movement, every gesture, was so full of life, vibrant and fluid, that May wondered if Reese was truly a person, and not the physical embodiment of beauty and fun.

It made the stab of pain in her heart all the more noticeable when she realized that they would soon have to leave. BRNZ was from Shade Academy, in Vacuo, while ABRN was from Haven, in Mistral.

 _We might never see each other again._ May thought sadly. Despite this, however, she tried to keep up her smile, not wanting her melancholy to ruin the evening.

Reese was having the time of her life. She'd never met anybody, even in the rest of ABRN, who was so willing to just sit and _listen_ like May was. Arslan was a good mom, but she rarely had patience to just sit and chat. Bolin was nice, but he was also a goofball, and everything that went in one ear went out the other. And Nadir, quite frankly, did not understand Reese in the slightest, although that didn't stop them from being friends.

May, meanwhile, was patient. May knew just what to say. May knew what Reese was going through, and offered sound advice whenever she could. Simply put, May was the perfect balance. The ice to Reese's fire. The quiet to Reese's noise. The calm to Reese's constant rush of adrenaline.

Despite this, however, Reese couldn't help but notice a problem with May. A simple dissonance. Every time May looked at Reese, she would see a flash of sadness in May's eyes, which was quickly subsumed. Her movements seemed subdued.

Their coffee arrived, and Reese took a cup, taking a slow sip out of it, eyes narrowed in thought.

May took a cup, frowning and turning it on it's side. She blushed, and looked at Reese. "Uhh...I think you accidentally took mine, Reese."

Reese stopped and looked at the cup, seeing for the first time May's name written on the side. "Oh...sorry..."  
"It's okay." May responded, taking her cup and giving Reese hers, still blushing. She glanced at the cup, before taking a sip of her own.

Reese thought for a moment, before snapping her fingers. "That's it!"  
May stopped and glanced at her, confused. "What's it?"  
"I figured what's wrong with you!"  
"Wrong...with...me?"

"Yeah." Reese said, smiling and pointing at May's hat. "You've never taken your hat off."

"Oh." May responded, eyes downcast at the table. "I...I just...never needed to take it off, I guess."

"Nonsense!" Reese said brightly, scooting over the table. "How can I remember your face if I never see _all_ of it?" she proclaimed, reaching over and grabbing the edge of May's beanie.

May made no move to stop her, instead turning and looking at her, tears welling in her eyes. "Please don't." she whispered.

Reese frowned and moved the beanie up. "Why don't you want to...Oh."

Reese had moved the beanie up so that she could see the rest of May's face, straightening it out and uncovering the part obscured previously by the cloth. Under the beanie was May's second eye. The area around her entire left eye was heavily scarred, dark and light scar tissue crisscrossing the eye itself. Instead of a vibrant blue, May's left eye was white, with scars of it's own, darker grey staged on white.

Tears flowed down May's face, and she pushed Reese's hand out of the way, pulling the beanie back down over her eye.

"I know what you're thinking." she whimpered, turning her face away. "You wish you'd never seen the rest of me. I should've kept it on, never let you move it. I'm ugly."

Before she could say any more, a gloved hand shot out and covered her mouth, turning May's head back to look at Reese. Reese's green eyes stared into May's own blue one, and in them May could see sheer determination. Her mouth was set in a sympathetic line, and May, too stunned to move, simply sat there, even after Reese moved her hand from her mouth. Reese's thumb hovered over the corner of May's mouth, and she gently moved it upwards, until May's mouth was curved into a smile. Her hand then moved back up, gently gripping the edge of the beanie over May's eye and moving it back up, leaving her left eye, white eye staring wildly into nothing, uncovered.

"Wha..." May began, before Reese put a finger to her lips, signaling for silence. She moved her pointer and middle finger over to May's dusk-colored eyebrow, gently moving down and closing her left eye. Reese leaned forward, and planted a gentle kiss on May's eye. She then sat down, noticeably closer to May, and stared into May's eyes. _Both_ of her eyes.

"Don't you _ever_ say that again." Reese said, her tone almost angry. "You are not ugly. You're pretty. Heck, you're _beautiful_."

May stared at Reese, stunned. "But...my eye..."  
"Who _cares_ about your eye!" Reese growled. "I know I don't."

May recoiled as if she had been hit, and Reese's faced softened. "Look." she sighed. "It's not your eye, or your face, that matters."  
Reese reached forward and placed her head at the center of May's chest. "It's what's _here_ that counts. Get it?"

May...didn't know what to say. After the accident, _nobody_ had been this supportive of her. The children at the playground had laughed at her. Her friends had abandoned her. And even though they denied it, May knew her parents were ashamed of her. Even her own team, when they had found out, had given her strange looks for weeks.

But Reese...she did none of those things. She accepted May for what she was. She didn't care how she looked, or what had happened. She gave her support for nothing in return, and treated her disfigurement as though it didn't matter.

Something inside May broke, as though a dam had been let loose. Years of pain, heartbreak, abuse and helplessness poured out of her like a torrent, and May freely and openly wept. Reese smiled and grabbed either cheek, drawing May into an embrace, whispering kind words in her ear.

The two remained like that for a few minutes, comforted in each other's embrace. After a while, Reese stood up, throwing her arm around May's shoulder. "Come on." she said. "Let's get out of here".


End file.
